In 2019, North Bergen High School in New Jersey went viral for their inventive stage production of Alien: The Play.
Like most high school drama clubs, these students had a shoestring budget. They got creative, building incredible setpieces and costumes with donated and recycled materials.
The performance was so well received that Alien director Ridley Scott got word and donated $5000 for an encore showing, one that Alien actress Sigorney Weaver was able to attend.
In another section of the galaxy, I recently witnessed a different type of creative performance.
A film adaptation with a slightly higher budget of $248 million dollars:
I remember reading author Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary back in 2021, and had the same thought every day since: “I cannot wait for this to become a movie, but please let them get the important parts right!”
Welp, after seeing the movie on an IMAX screen in 70MM, I can confirm: they got the important parts right.
Please go see this film on the biggest screen you can; it’ll restore your faith in humanity.
So, why bring up two wildly different space performances, with budgets that couldn’t be further apart?
Because both performances received their due recognition for the same thing:
Real, physical, human-created, practical ingenuity!
Creative crews using their respective talents and budgets for hand-crafted sets, applying practical effects whenever possible, and ultimately reminding the audience that even in infinite expanse of outer space, humanity is what brings us all together
(Okay fine. In both Alien and Project Hail Mary, it’s not JUST the humans that matter…)
But I bring all of this up for a reason.
As with Alien: The Play and Project Hail Mary, I’ve found myself more and more drawn towards, “thoughtful, creative, and tactile” instead of “flashy, instant, and digital.”
Let’s talk about it.
Arts & Crafts strikes back: making stuff with my hands again
For the past seventeen years, my full-time job has been “Think deeply about stuff and then write about it on the internet.”
However, over the past few years, I’ve come to realize my highly-sensitive and emotional brain is no match for whatever today’s Internet has become: faster, algorithmically-manipulated, addictive, and hostile.
We’ve all become “Receivers of Memory” and it is wrecking us.
Like digital junk food, the more time I spend consuming algorithmic internet, the worse I feel. It’s made me less patient, more anxious, and less intelligent. I’m currently reevaluating my relationship with a LOT of life in 2026 (thanks, therapy!). And that certainly includes social media, technology, and the internet as a whole.
So for the past six months, I’ve been slowly chipping away at the tight grasp the internet has on my brain. In it’s place, I’m trying to fill that void with more real-world stuff.
I’ve learned the more time I spend doing imperfect, human things with my hands, the less disconnected I feel, the less anxious I feel, the more “okay” I feel.
I know, I know. “Dude who spends all day every day absorbing all of the terribleness of the entire world 5 seconds at a time realizes this might not be good for him.” Duh.
I still think some technology is great (it did allow me to send this to you), but I’m trying to be more selective and protective of my brain and heart.
Here’s where that extra time is going:
BUILDING LEGO SETS AGAIN
A few years ago, my brother gifted me a LEGO set: Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa. I kept telling myself I would get to it eventually, but kept coming up with excuses as to why I couldn’t start.
Years later, in the middle of a metamorphosis, I stumbled across the full story of Hokusai, and I saw his woodblock prints at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
I still found myself too intimidated to tackle the Great Wave as my first set in 30 years, so I bought myself a smaller set to get warmed up:
A LEGO bonsai to go along with my coffee mug bonsai:
Last week, after publishing my essay about trees and the first day of Spring, I swapped out the green branches for a set of Cherry Blossom branches.
I’m not kidding when I say I feel instant joy when I look at it:
READING PHYSICAL BOOKS AGAIN
I carry my Kindle with me everywhere. But I also love the feel of a physical book and collecting books I might never read. I’m a sucker for great physical books that are art pieces themselves; especially animation and video-game art books that feature hand-drawn concept art.
Here are two recent purchases that make me smile: Ghibliotheque and The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki.
Up until a few years ago, I had never seen a Studio Ghibli film.
Since then, I’ve watched all of them. I found a podcast dissecting each movie. I watched four documentaries.
I admire Hayao Miyazaki’s and the team’s dedication to the craft of hand-drawn animation, even though computers can make it easier and faster. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have even inspired me to start drawing again.
DRAWING FOR FUN AGAIN
As a kid, I loved to draw and make stuff. Nothing made me happier than a school project that required construction paper and glue. I would make pop-up books and dioramas, always taking things ten steps too far simply because I couldn’t help myself.
Last week, on a cross country flight, instead of playing a video game, I took out my sketch pad and just started drawing.
I drew this cliffside lighthouse and airship for no reason other than it was the first thing that came to mind. The perspective isn’t perfect, it’s not going to win any awards, and yet it brought me peace and joy. I might even sign up for some art classes here in Nashville.
JOURNALING, PHYSICAL TO-DO LISTS, SENDING HANDWRITTEN NOTES AGAIN
Studies show that writing notes by hand actually retains more knowledge than typing them. I spend most of my day typing (like with this essay).
Fortunately, for the past few years I’ve kept up the practice of capturing my thoughts slowly in a physical journal. Doing so helps me use my brain a bit differently. It’s also another opportunity to get away from my phone and laptop.
Speaking of writing by hand…
Last year, I attended a small event with other entrepreneurs and creators, and got a chance to meet Jeff Sheldon who started UgMonk. His company makes high-quality physical products that just feel great.
Jeff gifted me a beautiful little to-do pad that I’ve been using for the past eight months. I still keep track of longer term stuff with project management software, but there’s something that feels meaningful and deliberate about crossing off specific tasks each day on this list.
At another event last year, I was gifted a fancy-ass pen that accidentally became my favorite pen. It’s heavy, expensive, and I plan on using this pen until the end of time (I’ve already replaced the ink four times!)
Writing with a fancy-ass pen in a fancy-ass journal and then crossing off items on my fancy-ass to-do list helps reinforce my belief that writing is a craft to be celebrated and prioritized.
Lastly, I have also been sending fancy-ass handwritten notes to my friends when I send them early copies of my upcoming book.
I don’t have good penmanship. I make mistakes. But that’s precisely the point, isn’t it? The note means more because I took time out of my day to write an imperfect note!
MAKE REAL STUFF IMPERFECTLY
The Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi is an appreciation of the imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent.
We humans are imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent. Our art and our lives should reflect this.
As the internet has become more and more dominated by instantaneous, algorithmic, and artificial, I find myself drawn more and more to tiny real-world, imperfect acts that keep me off my computer, away from my phone, and instead making things with my hands.
I finally opened my LEGO Great Wave set today. I wonder what I’ll draw next.
What are the physical, real world, imperfect activities you find yourself drawn towards to stay off the hellscape that is 2026’s internet?
- Building a little garden in your back yard?
- Playing a musical instrument?
- Doing puzzles with your kids?
- Doodling in a notebook?
- Writing notes by hand?
How to Try Again Corner – Signed copies now available!
We are 78 days away from the launch of my new book, How to Try Again!
Let’s keep this “real world, practical, human-made” stuff coming.
Because today I have some fun news!
Parnassus Books is one of the world’s most famous independent book stores, and it’s right here in Nashville.
The people at Parnassus are wonderful humans. I’ve partnered with them to ship out signed copies to anybody who pre-orders my book through the specific link below:
Pre-order a signed copy of How to Try Again from Parnassus
Plus, anybody who pre-orders now will get to read the first two chapters IMMEDIATELY!
It means the world to me that people want to support my writing, and I want them to feel that human connection when they read it.
So as often as it takes, for as many books as necessary, I’ll drive my beat-up 2017 Jeep over to Parnassus and thoughtfully sign each copy. I am so excited to do this!
Once you pre-order the book, forward your receipt to 1book@stevekamb.com and I’ll send you a PDF of the first two chapters of the book right now.
-Steve
PS: This essay has also been published over on SteveKamb and Substack, so please feel free to share either link with somebody who might enjoy reading it!